The Grand Crusades
Shortly after leaving Gearshift, gathering his ragtag fleet and mapping the systems that they came across, Lord General Holt became aware of the existence of the Anchorage Systems, a series of independent agriculture factions that exported food and other necessities to its adjoining neighbors. Judging from the hastily-formed words of the distress beacon pulsating from the heart of the Anchorage Systems, Holt suspected that it was currently being held captive by several gargantuan Techno-Barbarian armies and fleets. The conditions under their harsh rule were not decent, with reports of mass genocides coming in every so often from Holt’s mysterious contact deep within Anchorage’s territory. Holt, staying true to his intentions and dream, called for the immediate liberation of the systems from its Techno-Barbadian occupiers using the combined might of mechanized forces and naval assets. Several of his generals and admirals protested in the beginning; the occupiers outnumbered Holt's force by a huge margin, but when the promise of more troops and a strong ally met their ears, they were eager to join Holt in his endeavors. In truth, the Generals and Admirals still had doubts about Holt's intentions, but their belief in the Lord General's plan for Mankind spurred them to obey his orders and honor his banner. Holt’s fleet, now completely loyal to its leader to the very end, rallied and steamed towards their objective with the full intention of freeing the people of the Anchorage Systems. The resulting series of naval engagements and land-based battles, called the Grand Crusades, lasted for approximately two-hundred standards years, and resulted in the deaths of untold billions. Dozens of worlds were rendered inhospitable due to the wide scale use of nuclear arms and neutron munitions. At its conclusion, Holt’s fleet would be reduced dramatically in size, and although the Anchorage Systems and the billions of persons that dwelled within them would be liberated, the cost of the war would be staggering. Holt's Decesion ' Holt and his armada had been traversing the stars for roughly twenty years before rouge transmissions began appearing on Say My Name’s long-range scanners. The Lord General, curious about the broadcasts, had the OCI (Office of Communications and Intelligence) teams aboard his gargantuan warship decipher the encodings, reveal their origins and determine what exactly lurked within the Great Unknown that felt it necessary to send out such strong radio signals. The OCI’s findings were disturbing. A lone collection of independent agriculture-based star systems called Anchorage (or more commonly known as the ''Anchorage Systems) had come under attack by a number of Techno-Barbarian warbands. Anchorage’s plight was immense, with reports of massive genocidal campaigns being waged against the farmers on a monthly basis. For the next two weeks, Holt set about scouting the Anchorage Systems to determine the strength of the occupying force and to gauge the current state of the native inhabitants. With the conclusion of the missions, Holt convened with his most decorated generals and admirals to determine what course of action should be taken. The scouting mission had revealed that the Techno-Barbarians outnumbered Holt’s naval force four to one. The enemy’s land-based strength was even more disheartening to look at. This information caused many of Holt’s generals and admirals to reject his proposal, with many of them threatening to leave the First Fleet if Holt should attack Anchorage. The Lord General was displeased with his officer’s decision and argued that, should the First Fleet ignore Anchorage, the human beings—these members of Mankind—would be forever subjected to mistreatment. To Holt, abandoning Anchorage was to abandon Mankind itself. His officers, disgruntled at Holt’s foolhardy plan, grudgingly agreed to follow his lead. The promise of war spoils was the deciding factor in their decision, however. Although they were heavily outnumbered, Holt proposed that the farmers on the worlds that the Techno-Barbarians held could be equipped via the strategic airdropping of weapons, ammunition and light assault vehicles. With the armed (yet poorly-trained) rebel forces of Anchorage fighting on the ground, Holt’s warships—their overall technological superiority giving them a distinct edge in the coming battle—could slowly chip away at their foe’s capacity to support their ground troops. Loading several stealth ships with small amounts of military supplies, Holt would equip roughly three million Anchorage farmers and factory workers with the means to rise up and retake their homes from their oppressors. Oblivion IV, the nearest planet within Holt’s vicinity, was the first world to be armed, and thus was targeted for invasion and liberation. Gearshift, in its quest to make Holt’s dream possible, would be stretched to its economical breaking point. Thousands of Iron Guardsmen personnel would come to join the fight over the course of two months. '''The Invasion of Oblivion IV After exiting hyperspace, Holt’s fleet immediately engaged the Techno-Barbarian blockade surrounding Oblivion IV while infantry and armored vehicles carried by troop transports and gunships descended towards the planet’s surface. Oblivion IV’s natives, now armed to the teeth and their explosive collars disabled by Say My Name's EMP bomb, conducted raids on the entrenched anti-aircraft batteries that lined the entire world’s surface prior to the landings. In unison they worked, communicating with one another over vast distances and heroically throwing themselves at the enemy positions until the batteries were silenced. Vice Commander Rochem Steel, the man Lord General Jonathan Holt placed in charge of the land assault, immediately began directing vast tank assaults on Techno-Barbarian strongholds and the anti-orbital batteries that the citizens of Oblivion IV could not subdue during their initial uprising. Rochem Steel took to the field personally in his command tank, in turn bringing to the table an ungodly amount of firepower. With precise planning and the use of excessive force, Steel was able to recapture the city of New Haven (one of Oblivion IV’s largest settlements and the main command centre of the Techno-Barbarian land forces) in just under four days. With the city secured and the anti-orbital guns silenced, the pressure on Holt was loosened somewhat, allowing the Lord General to pull in his weaker ships into the fray and inch ever closer to a naval victory for Armored Security. Holt would tenaciously fight back attack after attack from the enemy for two months. During this time, New Haven would come under attack by a colossal force of Techno-Barbarian guerilla groups that would manage to breach the city’s outer walls using explosives. Taking a large swath of the First Armored by surprise, Rochem Steel was forced to retreat and recollect his scattered forces several miles away from New Haven. Hundreds of armored vehicles and the thousands of personnel that operated them were trapped within New Haven’s heart. Task Force 302: Operation Hero-God Category:Armored Security